Electronic key card encoders are often used to produce customized electronic key cards at a point of transaction, such as at a hotel desk. Generally, key encoders carry out an encoding function and a readback function to ensure that the key is properly encoded. As is known in the art, key cards have a magnetic strip that is encoded by the key encoder with a particular unique code. To ensure that the code will be read back properly when it is inserted into a lock, the code must be encoded in a specific zone on the magnetic strip. Thus, key card encoders must be designed so that the location of the card being encoded is known at all times during the encoding and card reading process.
Currently, there are two types of key encoders in common use. One encoder structure is a narrow, rectangular structure having a slot along its length. A gate detects when the edge of the card passes through a given location in the slot to locate the card, ensuring that a record head encodes the card in the required zone. To encode the key card, a user grasps the card and manually swipes it along the entire length of the slot. As the card passes through the slot, the gate trips, prompting the record head to begin encoding the magnetic strip and the read head to confirm proper encoding.
The manual encoding process for this type of structure, however, makes user error common. If the user does not keep the key card firmly in the slot along its entire length (e.g., if the user inserts or removes the card at an angle before the entire magnetic strip is encoded, the resulting key card will have the code deposited at the wrong location on the strip and/or have an incomplete code on the strip. This improper code location and format makes it impossible to erase and re-encode the card because the read head cannot locate a code that is does not start and stop in the required zone. The card must therefore be discarded. Further, the manual encoding structure requires two heads (i.e., a record head and a read head), increasing the complexity of the structure.
To eliminate the possibility of human error in manually swiping the key card through an encoder, an alternative key encoder structure includes rubberized wheels and a motor that pull the card inside a box through a front slot. In this structure, there is a single head that conducts both the encoding and the reading. The wheels pull the card forward to pass the magnetic strip past the head for encoding, pushes the card backward to rewind the card, then pulls the card forward to repass the strip against the head so that the head can read the encoded strip and confirm proper encoding. Once the head confirms that the card is properly encoded, the encoder pushes the card backward again to eject it through the front slot. Although the wheels and motor ensure that the code will be deposited in the required zone, this structure also requires the card to be passed repeatedly past the heads, increasing wear on the encoder components. The motor and wheels can also degrade over time, requiring replacement.
There is a need for a simple, inexpensive key encoder that is not susceptible to encoding errors.